Razorvine

MeleeRV 6

CoordinationRV 0

BrawnRV 0

FortitudeRV 20

IntellectRV 0

AwarenessRV 0

WillpowerRV 0

LifestyleRV 0

Reputen/a

Health:Fortune:

260

Origin:

Razorvine is a demonic plant with origins in the Abyss. Whether it was engineered or formed 'naturally' is unknown, but the lethal weed is a pox on the planes, and has been spread from its native home to numerous other planes by the unwitting dupes of the tanar'ri.

Known Powers:

Additional Limbs: a razorvine plant usually consists of the root bulb and anywhere from two to twenty branches (or vines); roll 2d10 and add the result for a given plant. Each vine has two Health points, so they're cut rather easily, but each can inflict damage when doing so.

Clairvoyance: the creepy thing about razorvine is that some patches of the weed can develop special powers if given time (or are influenced by outside forces). When fed blood, a razorvine patch with this ability can answer questions about happenings wherever the vine grows.

This remote sensing can reach anywhere there is razorvine - whether on one's current plane of existence or another. The more blood that is fed to a razorvine patch, the more detailed an answer it can be given. Think one pint of blood per word; want more detail, give it more blood!

Damage Reduction: razorvine is highly resistant to Bashing, fire and heat damage. It can reduce the effects of such attack forms by 4 RS, meaning that most natural forms of fire will not burn it out, and smashing razorvine branches with a blunt instrument is a fool's errand.

Razor Skin: oddly the blackened, serrated and heart-shaped leaves of the razorvine plant are not at all dangerous. What you need to worry about is the stems of the razorvine. These have a triangular profile, and each 'edge' has a steel-like blade running along it.

Contact with these vines will inflict rank value 4 Slashing damage upon a body, while falling into a razorvine patch will raise this damage by +1 RS. Any resistance to Slashing damage of rank value 6 or greater will prevent this damage entirely, but that assumes one is prepared for it.

Landing in a razorvine patch will only inflict the listed damage once... until someone moves again. Extricating oneself from a razorvine patch takes 1d10 turns, during which time the victim will suffer repeat doses of the heightened damage until they get away (or bleed to death).

Clipping razorvine is an activity fraught with peril. The branches of a razorvine plant are under tension, so cutting one will cause it to spring out at the 'attacker' - prompting a retaliation on the Melee trait listed above (this is why most people trim razorvine while wearing at least chain mail).

Regeneration: razorvine grows fast... very fast. It can grow several feet per day, if left unchecked. If the root of the plant is not destroyed, a clipped razorvine branch will eventually regrow itself, no matter how long it had grown before it was destroyed.

Limitations / Enhancements:

(none)

Equipment:

(none)

Quirks:

(none)

Talents:

(none)

Characteristics:

Razorvine is inherently non-sentient in and of itself. If acted upon by outside magic it can develop a rudimentary sentience, but it will never achieve this state naturally. It is nonetheless insidious in both its intended purpose and the uses that other people put it to.

Appearance:

Razorvine resembles a patch of vines, usually spidering along any surface it can. Its leaves are black and heart-shaped, with serrated edges, though they are not actually sharp. The sharp part of a razorvine is the triangular stem of its branches, which give the plant its name.

Ecological Niche:

Razorvine can grow almost anywhere. Poor light, water, and nourishment are no impediment to the growth of the weed, for it has its origins in the Abyss - a place where nothing fragile can thrive. It was found (or made) on an unknown layer of that plane, and rapidly spread elsewhere.

But the Abyss is key to razorvine's utility. Somewhere on that plane is a massive patch of the weed, possibly as tall as a mountain, where the tanar'ri make use of its secret clairvoyance ability, dousing the patch with blood to spy on every place where the weed grows in the multiverse.

Most people are unaware of this fact, and simply use razorvine as a deterrent. Since it can coat walls and such in days, it is a great way to keep thieves out of one's property... even if in doing so, one is unwittingly allowing fiends to peer in on events surrounding their home.

Others use razorvine as a weapon, shoving hapless victims into patches of the stuff to dispose of them, or snipping a vine to use it as a horrific whip or garrote (+1 RS Slashing damage). Little can feed on razorvine plants, save for fhorges - who can eat just about anything.